Seesaw Seventies
The Seesaw Seventies lasted from about 1973 AD until 1980 AD. It began with the 1973 Oil Crisis in the Middle East. It then ended with the election of Ronald Reagan in the United States, and Margaret Thatcher in Britain. The Oil Crises had the West running out of gas for the first time, showing the developed world just how dependent they had become on the Middle East. Thus the prolonged post-World War II economic boom that dominated the 1950s and 60s ended in the worst recession and runaway inflation since the Great Depression. Meanwhile, the Cold War slowed down as American and Soviet relations improve for the first time since 1945. Yet elsewhere, the Munich Olympics massacre of 1972 proved just the beginning of the rise of terrorism, both by Arab and Western groups, breaking forever the sense of security and confidence the West had enjoyed since 1945. China also changed significantly following the death of Mao Zedong and the beginning of market liberalisation by his successors. In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan leading to an ongoing war for ten years, and tensions in Iran exploded with the Iranian Revolution. History Middle East Oil Crises, and Lebanon In the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War (1973), the Arab world came to realise that Israel could never be defeated militarily and forced to withdraw from lands seized during the Six Days War (1967), with the West supplying Israel with arms. In October 1973, Arab members of OPEC (the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) announced sharp production cuts and an oil embargo against “enemies” of the Arab cause, including the United States, Canada, Britain, the Netherlands and Japan. By 1974, the 1973 Oil Crisis had quadrupled the price of a barrel of oil. In the developed world oil consumption had increased enormously, more than doubling over the preceding 25 years. The West experienced its first fuel shortage. Fuel rationing was imposed and people waited for hours at fuel stations, especially in the world's largest consumer, the United States. By March 1974, some progress in various negotiations to end hostilities between Israel and her neighbours proved sufficient to convince the relevant parties to lift the embargo, but the resulting economic recession in the Western world continued until well into 1975, and the repercussions much longer especially in Britain. In terms of its intended effect, the crisis failed to shift the staunchly pro-Israel policies of the United States, although Western Europe and Canada did indeed move toward a more pro-Arab position. There were numberous wider long-term effects: a greater interest in renewable energy especially solar, nuclear power; a greater interest was placed on fuel self-sufficiency; and it helped to shift Japan's economy away from oil-intensive industries, and towards such industries as electronics. The crisis of 1973 was quickly followed by the oil crisis of 1979 caused by the Iranian Revolution. Meanwhile, for many years after achieving her independence in 1943, Lebanon had maintained a stable parliamentary democracy aligned with the West, despite the turmoil of the regions and difficult internal challenges. The population of Lebanon was roughly 50% Maronite Christian, who had been strongly favoured during the French colonial mandate, and retained a somewhat dominant role in government after independence. With the rise of Abdel Nasser in Egypt, an insurrection did threaten to break out in 1958 demanding that Lebanon be associated with pan-Arab nationalism, but it quickly faded out after a brief US military intervention. Until the mid-1960s, Lebanon’s relative calm brought banking-driven prosperity to the county from the surrounding oil-rich region. However, after the Six Days War (1967), more and more Palestinian refugees arrived in Lebanon, including Yasser Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) after their expulsion from Jordon in 1970. By 1973, roughly 10% of the population were Palestinians. Without political status and desperately poor, the Palestinians contributed to the growing sectarian and socioeconomic polarisation in Lebanon, finding common cause with poorer rural Lebanese migrants to the cities. Frequent clashes between Muslim and Cristian militias descended into civil war in April 1975, when Muslim gunmen attempted to assassinate the Christian leader, and in retaliation Christian gunmen ambush a busload of Palestinian civilians, killing 27; the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990). Fighting quickly spreads throughout the country, characterised by rapidly and unpredictably shifting alliances of militias and factions. Lebanon witnessed the disintegration of many of its administrative apparatuses, including the army which splintered into its various sectarian components. There were numerous interventions by foreign powers, starting with in 1976 when Syrian troops entered Lebanon ostensibly to restore peace. In 1978, the Israelis crossed the border in response to a PLO attack on an Israeli kibbutz and a bus hijack. The United Nations quickly ordered the Israelis to withdraw, to be replaced by a UN peacekeeping force; intended for a six-month tour, the force is still in Lebanon today. Israel invaded again in 1982, following the attempted assassination of the Israeli ambassador in London, despite the international community's doubts that the PLO was involved. Israeli forces would remain in southern Lebanon for 17 years, in contravention of a UN resolution for their withdrawal. War torn Lebanon would become a haven for terrorist groups like Hezbollah, who became notorious for kidnapping foreign hostages. The civil war would only begin to wind-down with the Taif Agreement in 1989. Iranian Revolution During World War II, Iran (renamed from Persia in 1935) was officially neutral, but outspoken in support of the Nazis. In response, the Allies invaded in 1941 and staged a coup to a friendlier regime under constitutional monarch Shah Mohammad Reza. After the war, the British retained a heavy influence over Iran and her oil fields. In 1953, the movement to nationalise the Anglo-Iranian oil company (known today as British Petroleum (BP) surged, and in response the United States and Britain staged another coup. The new regime was encouraged to press ahead with social and economic reforms including the further emancipation of women, improved infrastructure, education and literacy, and the mechanisation of agriculture. Modernisation proceeded at an unprecedented rate, fuelled by Iran's vast oil reserves, but for many devout Muslims it was all too fast. By 1962, Ayatollah Khomeini had emerged as the figurehead for opposition to the Shah’s autocratic and highly corrupt regime. Khomeini famously proclaimed that the Iranian people had been reduced to a level lower than a dog, because Americans in Iran were completely immunity from arrest; if anyone ran over a dog in America they would be prosecuted, but if an American ran over an Iranian he would be immune. Ironically, the 1973 Oil Crisis only exacerbated the Shah’s unpopularity. Iran did not join the oil embargo, which saw the countries annual income increase five-fold. However, the United States could not resist encouraging the Shah to squander much of this vast windfall on weapons bought from the American arms industry. After the oil-boom, the economy faltered under the Shah’s mismanagement. Protests gathered pace from October 1977 including largely peaceful demonstrations, civil disobedience, and labour strikes. Opposition came from both students wanting faster reform, and devout Muslims wanting reforms rolled back, united in their desire to remove the Shah. The Shah responded to the protests with brutal force, spurring more protests and more government crackdowns; 2,781 people were killed in demonstrations. By the time the Shah imposed martial law in November 1978, demonstrations and strikes had virtually paralysed the country. In January 1979, Shah Mohammad Reza fled the country. The government that eventually replaced the pro-Western authoritarian monarchy was an Islamic Republic, with a theocratic constitution whereby Ayatollah Khomeini became Supreme Leader of the country, and Sharia (Islamic) law had ultimate authority. Iran was established as a form of democracy with an elected prime minister and parliament, which women can and do serve in. However, the Supreme Leader has vast powers, and Sharia law has often been applied against political opposition in a particularly harsh fashion. The revolution was massively popular; historians generally accept that the referendum that approved the new constitution by 99.3%, based on universal suffrage over the age of 16 for men and women, was free and open. Khomeini’s regime quickly gained a reputation for venomous anti-Americanism, condemning the United States as the "Great Satan" and Israel as the "Little Satan". Meanwhile, labour strikes during the revolution severely disrupted the Iranian oil sector, leading to widespread panic, higher prices, and another Oil Crisis in 1979. United States and the ‘Me’ decade Between 1965 and '73, the United States had spent more than $120 billion on the Vietnam War, leading to an economy that had begun to show signs of weakness. The brief 1973 Oil Crisis led to a quadrupling of oil prices, and the shock was sufficient to produce both galloping inflation and a recession in the United States. By May 1974, prices rose more than 10% and unemployment reached 9.2%. President Gerald Ford (1974-77), who had inherited the office after Richard Nixon’s resignation, had no mandate and no clear solution for the worst economy in the four decades since the Great Depression. He had little more than two years in office before narrowly losing the presidential election of 1976 to little-known Jimmy Carter (1977-81). Carter's years in office were difficult. His modest achievements in weening the American public off foreign oil consumption were overshadowed when the Iranian Revolution of 1979 yet again drove up oil prices. Moreover, the use of alternative sources of energy suddenly seemed much less viable after the near disastrous meltdown of the nuclear power reactor at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania. Fortunately it was brought under control while the release of radioactive substances were still relatively small, but it foreshadowed future catastrophic nuclear accidents such as Chernobyl in the Ukraine in 1986 and at Fukushima in Japan in 2011. Carter also had very poor a relationship with Congress, despite a Democratic majorities, stifling his ability to enact legislation; in the post-Watergate environment, Congress was more willing to challenge the executive branch. In foreign affairs, Carter shared with Nixon the desire to be a peacemaker. He suspended economic and military aid to Chile, El Salvador and Nicaragua in protest at human rights abuses. He resolved a dispute with Panama over American administration of the Panama Canal that had been rumbling on for decades; a gradual US withdrawal began in 1977 and was peacefully completed by 1999. But his most notable foreign policy achievement was his successful mediation of the historic Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, in which Israel withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula. Unfortunately there was one conflict on which Carter could make no progress; the Iran Hostage Crisis (1979-81). In the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution of February 1979, the deposed Shah Mohammad Reza was grant asylum in the United States, spawning rumours of another US-backed coup that would reinstall the oppressive Shah; recalling the US-backed coup of 1953. Iranian also demanded that he be returned to stand trial for crimes during his reign. As anti-Americanism intensified in Iran, on 4 November 1979 a group of students seized the United States embassy in Tehran, and took 66 embassy staff hostage. Within a few weeks, 14 of these hostages were released; women, African-Americans and non-American citizens who the Ayatollah Khomeini claimed were already oppressed by American society. This left 52 Americans who would remain prisoners, often demeaned and mistreated, for the full fourteen months of the crisis. Diplomatic negotiations and economic sanctions had no discernible effect on the Ayatollah’s anti-American stance. Powerless and exasperated, President Carter authorised an exceedingly bold and risky rescue attempt by Delta Force, a specialist anti-terrorist unit. On 22 April 1980, eight helicopters took-off from an aircraft-carrier stationed in the Indian Ocean, but the operation proved a debacle. It ended almost before it began with numerous technical faults caused by a sandstorm, and a crash in the desert that cost the lives of eight servicemen. The fiasco severely damaged President Carter's reputation. However by late 1980, Khomeini had fully reaped the benefit of the hostage situation and was increasingly distracted by the Iran–Iraq War (1980-88). He agreed to release the hostages on 20 January 1981 after 444 days in captivity, in return for the lifting of US economic sanctions. Relations between the two countries have remained deeply antagonistic ever since, and subsequent international sanctions have hurt the Iranian economy. The author Tom Wolfe famously labelled the eras of Ford and Carter “the ‘Me’ decade”, as Americans became disillusioned with politics after Watergate. The culture became more introspective such as insipidly optimistic disco. People became more interested in a better job for themselves, health and exercise fads, and self-help books. There was also a rise in New Age spirituality such as Scientology, and even cults. Rev. Jim Jones is probably the most infamous cult leader in American history. Jones had founded what became the People's Temple in Indiana in the 1950s, then relocated his congregation to California in the 1960s. In the 1970s, following negative media attention, the powerful and controlling preacher moved with some 1,000 of his followers to the Guyanese jungle, where he promised they would establish a utopian community. On November 18, 1978, U.S. Representative Leo Ryan, who had gone to Jonestown to investigate claims of abuse, was murdered along with four members of his delegation. Knowing justice would soon follow, Jim Jones decided to go out in the most dramatic fashion possible. That same day, he ordered more than 900 of his followers to ingest poison-laced punch, some at gunpoint; the Jonestown Massacre. Soviet Union and Afghanistan By the 1970s, deeply conservative Leonid Brezhnev (1964-82) had consolidated enough power to halt any reform-minded "radicals" in the Communist Party. In 1976 he became the most powerful leader since Joseph Stalin, when he was awarded the rank of commander-and-chief of the Soviet military on his 70th birthday, as well as holding both the leadership of the Party and of the state. Meanwhile, the Soviet economy continued to stagnate. As the West was rapidly moving to computerisation, the Soviet Union fell further and further behind. Moscow's decision to copy the IBM/360 of 1965 proved a decisive mistake, for it locked scientists into a difficult system to manufacture reliably and improve. Yet during the 1970s, these weaknesses were masked by her vast supplies of oil and gas, and high oil prices especially during the Oil Crises of 1973 and 1979. Meanwhile, the détente with the West continued, and in 1979 Brezhnev reached agreement with President Jimmy Carter on a new bilateral strategic arms limitation treaty (SALT II). However, the US Congress refused to ratify the treaty in the wake of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979. Until the 1960s, Afghanistan, inhospitable and populated by many distinct and highly self-sufficient ethnic groups, had remained almost completely isolated from the outside world. From 1963, King Mohammad Zahir Shah began rapidly modernising Afghanistan including elections, a liberal constitution, and women’s rights. This alienated many alienating devout Muslims. In 1973, Daoud Khan, a Pashtun nationalist, seized power in a bloodless coup. Though he continued to push for progressive policies, by favouring Pashtuns he alienated other ethnic groups, and was quick to crack-down on political opposition alienating the left-wing. The government of President Daoud came to a violent end in April 1978, when a Communist coup seized power. The new Communist regime introduced even more reforms, yet proved even more repressive than its predecessor. In March 1979, an uprising in the town of Herat left thousands of people dead. In the midst of the emerging chaos, power struggles within the Communist regime resulted in a revolving door of overthrown leaders. By late 1979, Leonid Brezhnev decided that the Soviets must intervene to stem the anarchy, anxious that the Islamic Revolution in Iran would spread to Afghanistan and further into Muslim regions within the Soviet Union; the Soviet–Afghan War (1979-89). On 24 December 1979, 80,000 Soviet troops with air-support invaded Afghanistan, quick seized the cities, and installed the more moderate Babrak Karmal as leader of the Afghan Communist regime. The disparate rebel groups and tribal warlords withdrew into the mountains, where they were soon united as the Mujahideen in a Muslim holy war against this atheist foreign invader. Dispute swiftly erupted internationally. While the Soviet Union insisted that they were merely intervening to stabilise a troubled neighbour, the West and the Arab world were united in their condemnation. The US-led diplomatic response was severe, including the boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow by 66 countries (though not Afghanistan which competed), and economic sanctions; the era of détente between the United States and Soviet Union was over. Meanwhile, the United States saw an opportunity to create trouble in the Soviet’s backyard, and began funnelling weapons through Pakistan to the Mujahideen. Many independent fighter from throughout the Muslim world went to Afghanistan to join the Mujahideen’s Jihad, including such notable figures as Osama bin Laden. The gruelling guerilla war dragged on in a Soviet version of the Vietnam War. It seemed that for every fighter the Soviet’s killed in successful search-and-destroy missions, his death resulted in the recruitment of five more, eager to become a martyr. As in Vietnam, from 1985 the Soviets began gradually transferring the burden of the war to the Afghan army. The last Soviet troops would leave Afghanistan in 1989. Britain and the Decade of Discontent As the 1960s came to a close, prime minister Harold Macmillan‘s famous slogan that the British people had “''never had it so good''” seemed increasingly hollow. Even before the worldwide economic recession triggered the 1973 Oil Crisis, British economic growth was sluggish, at only half the rate of that of Germany or France. British industry and manufacturing struggled to compete with an influx of low-cost manufactured goods from Asia, and even Japanese and German wares. Inflation was beginning to spiral out of control, peaking at over 25% in the 12 months to August 1975. Economists have proposed numerous explanations: that early industrialisation in the 19th century had in some way hampered innovations; that defeat had forced Germany and Japan to rejuvenate and rethink their economies; that the distraction of empire had somehow handicapped the home economy; that nationalised industries had failed to modernise to make them competitive; or a pervasive elitist anti-industrial attitude. All political parties came to the same conclusion: that Britain needed to enter the European Economic Community (EEC). After years of vetoing British membership by France, Conservative prime minister Edward Heath (1970-74) finally took the country into the EEC in 1973; along with Denmark and the Republic of Ireland. Yet Britain's economy remained shaky, and inflation was so high that relations between trade unions and government began to breakdown, as they bargained for higher wages to keep up with the rising cost of living; a wage-inflationary spiral. The 1973 Oil Crisis was further exacerbated by miners’ strikes in 1972 and 1974, as easy-to-reach coal mines petered out, and expensive British coal was no longer competitive. This prompted Edward Heath to dramatic action; the Three Day-Week severely restricted commercial users to conserve electricity. He also called an election for February 1974 to obtain a mandate to face down wage demands, famously campaigning on the slogan “Who governs Britain?” challenge, to which the voters answered: “Not you”. Labour were returned to power under Harold Wilson (1974-76) and James Callaghan (1976-79). Through the Social Contract (1974), agreed with the country's most powerful unions, the Trade Union’s Congress (TUC), the government succeeded in holding wages downs and cutting inflation to less than 8%. The trade union leaders had gained unprecedented political influence, but at the expense of their members' pay packets. For 1978, the government proposed a pay-rise of 5%, but the workers who had delivered the “economic miracle” wanted a payback. Workers at Ford Motor Company were the first to reject the offer in September, and, after a two-month strike, Ford eventually revised the offer to 17% which the workers accepted. Ford were making such handsome profits at the time, and could well afford the pay rise to its workers; the company boss, Terence Beckett, had just had an 80% pay rise. However, Ford set a precedent and unions were no longer in the mood to moderate their pay claims; the Winter of Discontent (1978-79). Lorry drivers including drivers for oil and gas companies were the first to strike in December. In an exceptionally cold January, the strikes spread to public sector including train drivers, hospital nurses and ambulance drivers, waste collectors, and even school dinner ladies and grave diggers. As Leicester Square in the heart of London became an official dump and unofficially renamed “Fester Square”, prime minister James Callaghan was at an international summit on the Middle East on the Caribbean Island of Guadeloupe. The aggressive British tabloid press had a field-day with images of the prime minister on the beach in his swimming trunks, a leader out of touch with the country. The strikes were largely over by February 1979, but Margaret Thatcher, the first female leader of a major political party in British history, had a cause that chimed with her own instincts, and with the public. Standing up to the trade unions became her mantra, and she won the election of March 1979, to become Europe's first elected female head of government. Bankrolled by unaccustomed wealth from now economically viable North Sea oil, and prepared to tolerate levels of unemployment not seen since the Great Depression, Mrs Thatcher would choose confrontation as a route to reconstruction. Spain’s Transition to Democracy The peaceful transition to democracy in Spain began shortly after the death of Francisco Franco in November 1975. King Juan Carlos began his reign as head of state within the legal confines of Franco's one party regime. In July 1976, the king replaced the sitting prime minister with Adolfo Suárez, a former Francoist minister, because he felt he could meet the challenge of the difficult political process that lay ahead. Suárez persuaded the Francoist right in the parliament to pass the Law for Political Reform (November 1976), paving the way for democratic elections. He also convinced the opposition of his democratic intentions, and in April 1977 legalised the other political parties, against the wishes of the armed forces. In the elections of June 1977, Suárez’s party emerged as the strongest party in a coalition government. The political consensus held to pass the constitution of 1978, overwhelmingly ratified in a public referendum, and established Spain as a constitutional monarchy. Spain's young democracy was put to test in February 1981 when a military coup led by Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Tejero attempted to seize power. However, it failed thanks to the intervention of King Juan Carlos, who gave a television address calling for unambiguous support for the legitimate democratic government. The elections in 1982 brought the centre-left PSOE party to power. This marked the definitive break from the Francoist regime, and the completion of the Spanish transition to democracy. Italy’s Years of Lead Between 1951 and 1969, Italy had enjoyed a prolonged economic boom, with growth rates second only to West Germany. The so-called Italian economic miracle had a dramatic impact on Italian society. With migration from the south to the northern manufacturing centres of Milan, Turin, and Genoa, some southern rural areas became seriously depopulated, whereas northern cities virtually doubled in size, with the immigrants crowded into bleak housing estates. As in Britain, the 1960s had seen the rise of trade union power, but in Italy it was even more extreme with intermittent clashes between militant left and right-wing groups. Tensions exploded in the “hot autumn” of 1969, a season of strikes, factory occupations, and mass demonstrations throughout northern Italy, with its epicentre at Fiat Automobiles in Turin. The protests were not only about pay, but issues such as housing conditions and transport, and they formed part of a more general wave of political protest, inspired by opposition to the Vietnam War in the United States. Labour militancy continued throughout most of the 1970s. Meanwhile, in the midst of a riot by far-left demonstrators in November 1969, Antonio Annarumma, a Milanese policeman, was killed. He was the first person to die in this decade of violence. In December, a bomb exploded at a bank headquarters in Milan killing 17, the work of a right-wing group to dupe the public into believing it was part of a Communist insurgency. Indeed, some 80 suspects from left-wing groups were arrested, and one mysteriously died in police custody. In what became known as the Years of Lead (1969-81), nearly 2,000 murders were attributed to political violence in the form of bombings, assassinations, and street warfare between rival militant factions, notably the Red Brigades, a left-wing paramilitary organisation and contemporary of the similar Red Army Faction in West Germany. The deadliest event was the bombing of the Central Station at Bologna in August 1980, which killed 85 people and wounded more than 200. The kidnap and murder of former former prime minister Aldo Moro in 1978, prompted the introduction of special police powers and incentives for informants. By 1982 the terrorist threat was greatly reduced. China and Market Liberalisation Chairman Mao Zedong died in 1976, to be succeeded by the little-known Hua Guofeng. However, within two years Hua had been outmanoeuvred by Deng Xiaoping (1978-92), who was able to reach supreme leadership in the Chinese Communist Party. The greatest survivor of 20th-century Chinese politics, who had been purged twice during the Cultural Revolution, Deng’s rise to pre-eminence culminated in the purge and public trial of the so-called Gang of Four in 1981, the pro-Mao Party elite led by Mao's widow Jiang Qing. Deng recognised that the excesses of the Cultural Revolution had proved highly damaging to the China economy, and took up a policy startlingly different from that of the late Chairman. Known as the Four Modernisations, it combined socialist ideology with pragmatic market economy, and aimed to set China on the right path in four areas: agriculture, industry, science and technology, and national defence. Many of the assumptions of the Mao era were abandoned. The collective farming system was virtually eliminated, with fields leased to farming families with greater freedom in what to plant, and allowed to sell a proportion of their crops on the rapidly growing free market. This policy resulted in greatly increased agricultural production within a few years of its initiation. Urban and rural areas throughout the country were encouraged to set up small local enterprises, and managers of companies were allowed more autonomy to allocate resources based on market forces. To encourage private entrepreneurship, Deng designated four areas on China’s coast as Special Economic Zones, open to foreign trade and investment. Those zones became the engines driving China’s remarkable and sustained economic growth, and set the country on the path to her current status as an economic superpower. In foreign policy, Deng's leadership also helped China to raise its profile as a global power. During his first years in power, he gradually improved the strained relations with the Soviet Union, and established full diplomatic relations with the United States, for the first time in a generation. He also worked to enhance ties with the world economy, as well as diplomatic ties with neighbouring countries like Japan; in 1972 Japan recognized the Chinese Communist Party as the legitimate government of mainland China, rather than Taiwan. However, Deng did maintain China's aggressive stance towards Tibet and Taiwan. Although reforms improved the quality of life for all, problems arose also. It became increasingly difficult to balance socialist principles with capitalist effects of ever-growing inequality, especially through the blatant corruption and self-enrichment of many Party members. Deng's reforms were not without criticism, from hard-liners who asserted that Deng opened China once again to various social evils. Meanwhile, liberals attacked Deng's unrelenting stance on the one-party political system. These tensions would boil-over in the dramatic events of 1989 in Tiananmen Square. India and the Emergency Indira Gandhi’s popularity was never greater than in the years immediately after the victory against Pakistan in the Bangladesh War of Independence (1971). Despite this, Gandhi was increasingly criticised for authoritarian tendencies and government corruption. In 1975, she was found guilty of several counts of election malpractice including excessive election expenditure and using government resources for party purposes. Instead of resigning, Gandhi declared a state of emergency, and imprisoned thousands of her opponents; The Emergency (1975-77). In 1977, confident that her former popularity would assure her re-election, Gandhi eased the emergency powers. When long-postponed parliamentary elections were held later in 1977, she was overwhelmingly defeated and stepped down. She was briefly jailed in 1978 on charges of corruption, but this only gained her sympathy from the people who had considered her as an autocrat just two years before. However, the new government was plagued by infighting and seemed incapable of solving the nation’s growing poverty crisis, and in 1980 Indira Gandhi returned to power with a landslide majority. During the early 1980s, Gandhi faced increasing pressure from Sikh secessionist factions in Punjab. In 1984, the Golden Temple in Amritsar was taken over by Sikh extremists, and Gandhi ordered the Indian army to regain the complex by force; the 1984 Sikh Massacre. Her heavy-handed storming of the Sikhs’ holiest temple was catastrophic and sparked brutal Hindu–Sikh riots that left more than 3000 people dead, mostly Sikhs who had been lynched. Five months later, Indira Gandhi was assassinated in a hail of bullets in the garden of her residence by two Sikh members of her trusted bodyguard. Following her death, another wave of anti-Sikh riots swept India in while millions were displaced and nearly three thousand killed. Gandhi was immediately succeeded by son Rajiv, who she had long groomed for leadership. Category:Historical Periods